“. . . this [Next Year’s Ghost] is a very different kind of record for Cale. Piano and Wurlitzer are the cornerstones of the album, written as a meditative respite in the pandemic. The album ponders loneliness, isolation, time and its tenure. It’s a new skin for Cale, but inside beats the same resilient heart that hums through his past works. . . a bittersweet collection that drapes the listener in the comforts of melancholy. The spiraling lines of keys lead the way, but with the wealth of friends around him at last, Cale carves out one of his most affecting albums yet. . . Zachary has always been one of our great troubadours, but rendered in stark relief, the songs on Next Year’s Ghost burrow into the listeners’ lives and wander around our wounds a while. ”
-RAVEN SINGS THE BLUES
